Volume 1: Breaking Ground Chapter 2 Back to 1997
Rhino-Elephant Art Museum, a famous private art museum, is located in the city center
Even more famous than the Rhino-Elephant Art Museum is the museum's underground restaurant. This restaurant is a very famous internet celebrity restaurant in City B. Because of its artistic decoration, fashion experts often come here to dine and take pictures.
“Before I die, I should have a great meal at the famous Rhino-Elephant Art Restaurant and have a posthumous photo posted.” After Wei Dong finished complaining, his eyes were drawn to the three long-legged girls.
The two were walking on the steps in front of the hall leading to the Elephant Art Museum. The three long-legged girls walking on the steps looked even more swaying.
"You haven't eaten enough?" Ke Xun stroked his bloated belly. "I still don't understand how those three fried dough sticks, two sugar cakes, four tea eggs and three bowls of tofu pudding were stuffed in there."
"My grandma said that we have to eat well before we set out on the journey," Wei Dong whistled so that only he could hear it, followed the three long-legged girls, and turned back to shout to his best friend, "Hurry up, you've got a tea-leaf egg yolk!"
Ke Xun followed lazily behind. He indeed ate a lot for breakfast today, because he really couldn't tell what the next painting waiting for him would be. Maybe there would be no food to eat, or maybe the food provided would not be human food.
Wei Dong burped, and was unusually excited: "Look at those three girls, they are either from the dance academy or models. It really deserves to be City B. The level of beauties has also risen."
Ke Xun said expressionlessly: "Are you going to be so obscene that you die?"
Wei Dong intentionally put on a very obscene smile, but deep inside that smile, there was an infinite sadness.
Time flies so fast, and we are about to move on to the third painting.
The two entered the museum with the tickets in their hands. Wei Dong had already seen the fifth exhibition hall upstairs from the first-floor lobby. His steps became more hesitant, and Ke Xun beside him didn't seem to move much either.
"Are you going to welcome the big boss..." Before Wei Dong could finish his words, he saw that Ke Xun's eyes seemed a little cold.
Wei Dong looked in that direction: "Isn't that Sha Liu? Who are the two short girls beside her?"
Sha Liu soon noticed the two of them, a complicated look flashed across her eyes, and then she came over with a smile and said hello: "You guys are here too?"
Ke Xun's expression was not good: "Are you bringing someone you know here with you?"
Sha Liu hesitated for a moment, then quickly shook his head: "It was just a coincidence, it's fate!"
The two short girls smiled and said to Sha Liu, "Thank you for your introduction. Shall we go up first?"
Sha Liu nodded and said goodbye to the two girls.
Even Weidong understood a little bit and thought that this woman was quite thoughtful, so he began to look for a suitable partner.
"Those two girls weren't originally together, right?" Ke Xun suddenly asked.
Sha Liu was startled when he heard this, then he raised his glasses without changing his expression: "How should I know? He came to ask me for directions, saying that he came to see the exhibition of painter Luo Bin's works." He showed the two people the brochure of the art museum in his hand, "Today, Luo Bin's works occupy the two exhibition halls on the second floor."
"That means there will be a lot of people in the fifth exhibition hall today?" Wei Dong looked up at the crowd pouring into the fifth exhibition hall. "I feel a headache for the person behind the scenes who is responsible for entering the painting. How will he screen so many people?"
"Panning for gold in the sand." Ke Xun squatted down and tied the laces of his running shoes. Although he knew that he would be forced to change his clothes after entering the painting, tying his shoelaces before preparing for action has become a habit he has developed over the years.
Sha Liu felt that it was somewhat "disrespectful" to openly discuss the mastermind behind the Ruhua incident in this place, so he did not participate in the conversation anymore, but turned and walked towards the escalator: "Let's go quickly."
Ke Xun and Wei Dong waited for a while before stepping onto the escalator. Wei Dong couldn't help but ask, "Ke Er, how do you know those two girls weren't together?"
"What the hell is Cole?"
"That's the abbreviation of Conan Doyle, Cole. From now on, you will be Cole."
Ke Xun, who transformed into Ke Er, explained his analysis to Wei Dong: "The two girls chosen by Sha Liu are both thin and short. They seem to have insufficient social experience. Compared with Sha Liu, they are obviously at a disadvantage. It seems that Sha Liu's purpose is not to choose capable people as partners, but to intentionally choose the weak."
"Why choose the weak?" Wei Dong seemed to understand after asking this question, "She wants to find a scapegoat for herself, right?"
"That's about what I mean. But the scapegoat should be someone who is alone. Otherwise, if two people form a group, they will easily be attacked by the other party."
"Oh~" Wei Dong understood instantly, "Smart women are indeed a bit scary."
Ke Xun's eyes turned to the large backpack that Wei Dong was carrying: "I forgot to ask you when we got on the train, what's in this big bag of yours?"
"This time I packed all natural fruits, some bread and biscuits, etc. Even if I restore the black-hearted Huatui to its original state, it should not affect the consumption," Wei Dong simply referred to the mastermind behind Ruhua as "Huatui", "and the rest is all toilet paper."
As for toilet paper, Ke Xun understood it very well and he also packed three rolls of toilet paper himself - the last painting was so tragic, everyone used grass leaves and dirt to solve the problem, and the chrysanthemums were rubbed into peonies...
The two went up to the second floor and saw the door of the fifth exhibition hall open. A group of students came out, talking and laughing. The two were stunned and looked at each other: What the hell? Is the curse of the black-hearted painting finally over?
The two walked to the tall wooden door of the fifth exhibition hall and looked left and right, but no one wanted to enter this exhibition hall at this time.
He gritted his teeth and pushed open the door again. The light that had just been in the door disappeared, and what greeted the two was the familiar darkness.
The door behind me closed automatically and I couldn't open it even if I tried to push it.
After all, there is no way to escape the entanglement of fate, and the painting push is just waiting for the right number of people.
Ke Xun wanted to see the paintings on the wall clearly in the dark, but was suddenly blinded by a beam of strong light. He had to concentrate his eyes and stare at the swirling picture in front of him without blinking. What he saw were some vague normal life, old wooden windows, old-fashioned electric fans, and children playing skipping rubber ropes with bright smiles...
When I landed on the ground, I saw a bustling street scene, old-fashioned rough asphalt roads, square and old-fashioned cars, street vendors, and a group of red scarves gathered around a street stall to buy snacks and toys that interested them.
"This... are we inside or not?" Wei Dong looked around and felt that the style of this painting was completely different from the previous two. "Are you sure this isn't a street in the old town of City B?"
Ke Xun observed carefully for a while and asked, "Are you sure you can let the lower grade children go home by themselves after school?"
Wei Dong looked at the two fashionable girls walking by on the street, their thin eyebrows and the thick-soled platform shoes on their feet, and he also felt that there was something wrong with the age of this street.
Ke Xun found that there seemed to be something stuffed in the pocket of his sweatpants. He took it out and took a look. It was a piece of advertising paper. The paper looked very old, and it was printed with an advertisement of "Chunsun Apartment for rent at low prices."
Weidong also found the same advertisement in the pocket of his denim jacket, which seemed to indicate that his destination was Chunsun Apartment.
"Hey, flowers of the motherland, do you know where Chunsun Apartment is?" Wei Dong asked with a smile to the two primary school students next to him who had just bought Saint Seiya picture cards.
The pupil answered very politely: "It's just around the corner, on Chunsun Street."
Another elementary school student added: "The Chunsun Apartment has been demolished. My dad said that a big art gallery will be built there!"
Ke Xun looked at the date on the advertisement in his hand and asked, "Uncle wants to test your memory. Who can tell the exact date of today?"
The primary school students of that era were not as cautious as the children today. In order to prove his good memory, one of the students quickly answered loudly: "Today is June 12th!"
Another student added, "Today is June 12, 1997!"
"Thank you!" Wei Dong actually took out two big pieces of bubble gum from his pocket, "This is a reward!"
The two children said very politely: "Thank you, uncle. Our teacher doesn't allow us to ask for other people's things casually! Goodbye, uncle!"
The two children left together.
Ke Xun shook the advertisement paper in his hand. On it was printed a large date: June 12, 1996.
"When did you secretly store the big bubble gum?"
"All the things I brought have turned into 80s delicacies. I still have some popcorn and sour plum powder in my bag. Which one do you want?"
“…”
Gradually it was dusk, and the two followed the elementary school student's instructions and turned a corner in front, and arrived at Chunsun Street. The street was very narrow, and the shops on both sides of the street were very old, but there were no signs of demolition.
Wei Dong was puzzled and said: "This place is a bit like a mountain city, the streets have many slopes."
Ke Xun looked at the shops on both sides of the street that were gradually lighting up with some caution, and whispered, "It's not that there are many slopes, but it's always downhill."
Before Wei Dong could react, he saw a peculiarly shaped building in front of him - a cylindrical building. Perhaps due to the limitation of the construction capabilities at that time, it was not very high, only about six or seven stories high.
As it was already dusk, neither of them could see clearly, but they still felt that there was something strange about the circular building.
There is a striking sign hanging on the door of the cylindrical building - Chunsun Apartment.
Neither of them had any intention of going in, but stood in front of the apartment door waiting for someone.
Others could not enter first and had to wait until all thirteen people were present before they could enter the apartment.
However, Ke Xun still couldn't understand why the two people didn't appear directly in front of the apartment door, but came here by asking from other streets. Could it be that the area defined by this painting was too large?
"Logically speaking, we should appear directly in front of Chunsun Apartment." Wei Dong also thought of this problem.
"Maybe it's because we arrived early." Ke Xun looked at the deserted street. Although the shops were brightly lit, the streets were sparsely populated.
"That Sha Liu is really cunning. I thought she entered the fifth exhibition hall first, but I didn't expect her to be secretly watching outside." Wei Dong sneered.
The wind was a little chilly. Ke Xun put his hands in his pockets and said, "I just find it weird. We arrived early and could have waited at the door of the apartment. Why did they send us to another street? And the time on the flyer is wrong. It's an old advertisement from a year ago."
Under the dim street lights in the distance, a familiar tall figure walked over. Ke Xun curled up the corners of his mouth and revealed an unconscious smile.
